Green bean casserole, the ultimate holiday side dish, gets a keto makeover! This healthier green bean casserole recipe features a rich sauce made with white wine, and a crunchy cheesy topping.
Yes, I know that green bean casserole is typically eaten during the holiday season, but why limit yourself? It strikes me as a perfect spring side dish, perhaps something to be with your Easter dinner.
And this keto green bean casserole strikes all the right notes, with the particular umami you can only get from homemade mushroom sauce. No canned condensed soup here, just fresh ingredients and bright flavors.
Trust me, making your own creamy mushroom sauce isn’t much more work than opening a can of soup, and it’s so worth it. Not only do you avoid all the junky ingredients but you also get an incredible depth of flavor.
Why Use Actual Cooking Wine?
Not everyone is comfortable with cooking wine, which is why I partnered with Holland House Cooking Wines to show you how. They have a wide selection of flavors, everything from white and red to marsala and sherry.
And they are developed to be ideal for cooking, standing up to the heat of the pan and the flavors of your dish. This way, you don’t have to open a large bottle of your drinking wine, just for the recipe.
Cooking wines can enhance the flavors of many recipes. The alcohol evaporates during the cooking process, so only the flavor remains. Cooking the wine down and reducing it helps concentrate the flavors, bringing out both the sweetness and the acidity.
It also helps deglaze the pan when you are searing foods at high temperatures. What does that mean? It means adding a cold liquid to a hot pan to help release the foods and delicious browned bits that are stuck to it.
Ever sear some meat in a skillet and have it stick badly? Don’t yank it up! Add just a ¼ cup of cooking wine and the food will release easily. And then let it reduce while scraping up the browned bits and you will have the most delicious sauce to serve.
How to make keto green bean casserole
I will admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of the usual green bean casserole, with the canned or frozen beans and the heavy mushroom soup. I want my beans to be fresh and still crisp and my mushrooms to be sautéed to perfection.
This keto green bean casserole has both attributes, with a delightful cooking wine-infused sauce. The white wine offers a slightly dry, but distinctive flavor, perfect for cooking lighter dishes. Plus a cheesy, crunchy topping made with crushed Parmesan crisps. So yummy and so much healthier.
A few tips for making this classic low carb side dish:
- Get nice fresh green beans. They should be plump and crisp and easily trimmed by snapping the ends off. Sauté the beans until they are bright green but still crisp, as they will continue to cook in the oven.
- Cook the mushrooms in butter until they are nicely browned, to bring out the umami flavor. Add the garlic at the end of cooking the mushrooms.
- Add the Holland House White Cooking Wine at this point to soften the mushrooms and to enhance the flavor. It provides a unique acidity to the sauce that you don’t get in traditional green bean casserole. Simmer until the cooking wine is reduced significantly.
- No need to use flour to thicken the sauce. Simply add the cream and bring to a boil, then simmer until it is the thickness of a thick creamy soup.
- You don’t have to add shredded cheese to the top of the casserole but it makes it extra delicious.
- Using crushed Parmesan crisps gives a wonderful crunch to the topping, in place of the high carb fried onions. I simply put my parmesan crisps in a plastic back and crushed them with a heavy spoon.
More delicious keto side dishes
- Creamy Keto Mashed Cauliflower
- Keto Flatbread with Mushrooms and Sage
- Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
- Easy Zucchini Casserole
- The Best Keto Stuffing
Cheesy Green Bean Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 lb green beans washed, trimmed, and cut in half
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 6 ounces crimini or button mushrooms sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup dry white wine (or chicken broth)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Salt and pepper
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup Parmesan crisps crumbled
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a large skillet, heat the avocado oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the green beans and sauté until bright green, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add the butter to the skillet and let melt, then add the mushrooms and cook until browned and they have begun to release their juices, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- Add the wine to the skillet and let cook until reduced by about two thirds. Stir in the heavy whipping cream and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until thickened, 4 or 5 minutes.
- Stir in the green beans and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a medium baking dish and sprinkle with the mozzarella. Bake 20 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with the crumbled parmesan crisps and bake another 5 minutes.
Video
Shelley D. says
I made this for Easter supper today and all my family liked it better than the “regular” GBC. I used the quisinart to cut the mushrooms up smaller and didn’t have quite enough Mozzeralla so I added a small bit cheddar. It was SO good!! Thank you for sharing this recipe, it’s become a new favorite.
Carolyn says
Sounds great!
Danae Morelock says
Carolyn, I love your recipes, but I would sure live one for Baked Beans. I crave them every year for Easter.
Carolyn says
I have no idea how I would make beans low carb, though.
Faith says
This recipe sounds fantastic and I plan to try it. What a great idea to use those parmesan crisps for a topping! I was wondering if you’ve tried making it ahead of time and putting it into the fridge, completing all steps up until the baking time? I wonder if it would separate or get watery or gloppy-if you know what I mean? I’d like to pre-make it if it wouldn’t change the final outcome. Thoughts?
Carolyn says
The topping won’t stay crisp if you do that. Keep that separate until ready to cook.
Faith says
I used chicken broth instead of white wine, and I did all the prep up until before adding the mot-cheese and parm-crisps topping and refrigerated it early in the day. Right before dinner, I added the toppings and baked it. Winner! It turned out great and everyone really loved it. Thanks for the delicious recipe! I can’t wait to make it again as sadly, there were no leftovers…
Shelly Asplet says
What can I use to substitute white wine? I was thinking either 1/8 C balsamic or apple cidar vinegar & 3/8 C broth. I can’t use wine of any kind. Thank you!
Carolyn says
More broth is fine.
Gail Gustafson says
Thanksgiving is next week, so I made this green bean casserole tonight for practice. WE LOVE IT! So much better than traditional canned soup version! Fresh bean, fresh mushrooms, and so much healthier! My extended family will be thrilled, and I have a good feeling that this recipe is going to become a new Thanksgiving tradition (and my family is ALL about tradition)!
Thank you for creating this wonderful holiday (really anytime) side.
Carolyn says
Yay!